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John Donnes poem A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is one depicting the beauty of love The poem a farewell is written to his about when Donne must depart for a period of time His metaphysical style of poetry including thought provoking comparisons and imagery makes his style all the more intriguing This valediction is perhaps his greatest proclamation of love Donnes use of comparison via simile and metaphor throughout the poem is nothing short of brilliant The first two stanzas contain one of profound meaning in which he compares his departure from his lover to the death of virtuous men In days of greater belief in Heaven and Hell it was the virtuous man who neednt fear dying as they were sure of their place above As virtuous men pass mildly so too will Donne from his wife Donne doesnt fear this death as he knows the love they share is far too great too profound to be affected by mere physical separation He even goes on to reinforce this message feeling that it would sully what they have to share it with those less holy than they So sacred this love that to tell the laity would be an irreverent profanation of their joys A striking image comes in the second stanza as well when Donne asks that he and his lover melt and make no noise This silent and abstract image of pure and complete unification of two beings is as effective as a stanza of words The conceit in the poem may be the illustration but it is this sort of imagery that colors in the lines When he compares with and thinks of the sublunary lovers love Donne finds it to be pale and unfulfilling He sees this type of love as weak in essence because it is not based correctly on the bonding of two souls but more on the bonding of two bodies It cannot endure

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